!!!Kunstgewerbe

Industrial Arts, the production of utility articles or jewellery or 
handcrafted decorative objects (also, since the mid-19%%sup th/%  
century, machine-made) which are also artistically designed. 
Industrial arts include a great variety of techniques and materials, 
such as metal (gold, silver, bronze, brass, pewter, iron, etc.),  
Glass, wood, leather, ceramics, ivory, enamel, textiles, and others.

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Artistic objects made of metal and clay in the territory that is now 
Austria have been preserved from eras as early as the  Bronze Age and 
the  Iron Age (particularly from the  Hallstatt Culture). The typical 
artistic forms of these materials in the Celtic  La Tène 
Culture remained to a considerable extent characteristic of the  Roman 
Era, particularly in the Noric/Pannonian region, where they soon 
merged with the Roman provincial style. During the migration of the  
Germanic Peoples, highly ornamental forms of jewellery became 
established, particularly as a part metalworking, which, as the 
so-called "Langobard style" remained widespread in the Alps 
region up into the 13%%sup th/%  century. While it can be assumed that 
in the archbishopric of Salzburg important workshops were already 
active by the end of the 8%%sup th/%  century (with another peak in 
the 12%%sup th/%  and 13%%sup th/%  centuries), in the territory of 
the Babenbergs, aesthetically qualitative articles made of metal ( 
Goldsmithery), ivory, or enamel for the abbeys associated with their 
residences were imported from various artistic centres (portable altar 
of Suanhild in Melk, abbot crosiers in Goettweig and Altenburg, Verdun 
altar). It was under the Habsburgs that court artisans began to 
acquire importance, although their creations were strongly 
characterised by foreign influences. Austrian textile workshops were 
very productive in the 14%%sup th/%  century. All branches of Austrian 
industrial arts achieved especially high quality in the  Gothic period 
in the decoration of churches and in the production of weapons and 
armour. From the mid-16%%sup th/%  century, a great increase in the 
demand for grandeur and prestige among the royalty and the aristocracy 
increased the demand for artistically made articles of valuable 
materials. These higher standards also had the effect of creating new 
divisions of labour (e.g. between carpenter, joiner, cabinetmaker, and 
specialists for marquetry). Industrial arts in the Austrian region 
assumed a similar degree of importance again at the beginning of the 
18%%sup th/%  century, due to the flourishing building activities of 
the aristocracy and the clergy and their concomitant demand for 
interior and exterior decoration (e.g. wrought iron latticework). When 
the Viennese porcelain manufacturer  Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten was 
founded (in 1718), the artistic design of household and decorative 
objects made of porcelain became firmly established. In the first half 
of the 19%%sup th/%  century, the distinctive and time-honoured  
Biedermeier style of home decor caused all fields of the industrial 
arts to flower. Now that industrial production was fully developed, 
the desire to also do justice to the artistic design of these products 
led to the establishment of the first "Museum fuer Kunst und 
Industrie" (Museum of Art and Industry) on the European continent 
(today the Austrian  Museum of Applied Art), in Vienna in 1864. This 
brought the desired rise in standard and the recognition of Austrian 
industrial arts throughout Europe in the second half of the 
19%%sup th/%  century. The imitation of historic styles practised at 
that time, however, was soon vehemently rejected by the  Secession, 
which demanded modern, practical, and precisely made decorative 
craftwork as part of a general culture of living and interior design. 
Thus the products of the  Wiener Werkstaette (established in 1903), as 
well as of the Oesterreichischer  Werkbund (established in 1912) 
retained a dominant position for a long time and attained 
international recognition. After 1945 the factors of design and 
utility of articles, as well as social and living conditions, came to 
the fore in the applied arts. The boundaries between applied arts and 
fine arts have become increasingly fluid, e.g. in the fields of 
ceramic figures, metalworking design for the public sector, or the 
decoration of buildings.

!Literature
100 Jahre Oesterreichisches Museum fuer angewandte Kunst, 
exhibition catalogue, Vienna 1964/1965; W. Neuwirth, Oesterreichische 
Keramik des Jugendstils, exhibition catalogue, Vienna 1974/1975; 4000 
Jahre Keramik in Vorarlberg, exhibition catalogue, Bludenz 1978; Neues 
Wohnen. Wiener Innenraumgestaltung 1918-1938, exhibition catalogue, 
Vienna 1980; W. Neuwirth, Die Keramik der Wiener Werkstaette, Vienna 
1981; Gold und Silber. Kostbarkeiten aus Salzburg, exhibition 
catalogue, Salzburg 1984; S. Gmeiner and G. Pirhofer, Der 
Oesterreichische Werkbund, 1985; H. Fillitz and M. Pippal, 
Schatzkunst, 1987; G. Koller, Die Radikalisierung der Phantasie, 1987; 
K. Fenzl (ed.), Design als funktionelle Skulptur, 1987; W. Schweiger, 
Meister der Wiener Werkstaette, 1990; Geschnitztes Steinbockhorn, 
exhibition catalogue, Salzburg 1990; Metall fuer den Gaumen, 
exhibition catalogue, Vienna 1990.


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